All right, let's go back to that
scripture that I read a moment ago in Matthew 13. I love the
Lord's parables. I brought a series of messages
several years ago on most of the parables. Our Lord spoke
to the people in parables. It's an earthly story. It's a
story about things with which we are familiar. But these stories are given by
our Lord to illustrate divine truth. And there are several parables
here in chapter 13. I cannot speak from all of them. That's not possible in one message. So I want to look at three of them.
Matthew 13, beginning with verse 44. Our Lord says in verse 44, again,
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God's dear Son, the kingdom
of God, the kingdom of the gospel. The kingdom of heaven is likened
to a treasure hid in a field. What is this treasure? treasure
hid in a field. Well, this treasure is the gospel,
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Over in 2 Corinthians 4, the
Apostle Paul refers to the gospel as a treasure. He said in 2 Corinthians
4, verse 3, ìIf our gospel be 2 Corinthians 4, 3, if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
we preach the gospel, the gospel of Christ Jesus the Lord. and
ourselves your servants for Christ's sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness in the original creation, hath
shined in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. He's revealed
the gospel of His glory to us. The gospel of the glory of God.
He's revealed it to us. But we have this treasure, this
gospel, this glorious gospel. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels. This treasure that Hannah talked
about when she said that he'll lift the beggar from the dunghill
and seat him among princes. The miracle of regeneration,
resurrection. That gospel which makes the lame
to walk. and the blind to see, and the
deaf to hear, and sets the captive free. That gospel of which our
Lord said, the Spirit of God is upon me, he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. Recovery of sight to the
blind. Deliverance to the captive. The
year of jubilee. That's the gospel. It's the gospel
that puts away all our sins. and enables God to be just and
justifier. That's the gospel. And we have
this treasure, verse 7, that the excellency of the power,
if anybody hears us preach it and believes what we preach,
it's not us. It's not our strength, wisdom,
or power. The excellency of the power is
of God. not of us. The treasure is in
an earthen vessel, a weak vessel. And so the excellence through
the power is not of us, it's of God. Paul said he was obsessed
with that gospel, separated to that gospel, possessed by that
gospel. I'm determined not to know anything
among you, he said, but that gospel of Christ Jesus. And I'm
not ashamed of it. For that gospel is the power
of God. the power of God to salvation
to everyone that believeth, whether it's a Jew or a Gentile, bond
or free, male or female, for in that gospel is the very righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, one degree of faith to
the other. The just shall live by faith. That's the treasure. And the kingdom of heaven is
like unto a treasure, that gospel, and it's hid in a field. What
does that mean? Well, look back at Matthew 13,
17. There I say to you, many prophets, righteous
men, have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them. Not in
the light you've seen them. Not in the fulfillment. You remember
he said about those who died in faith, Moses, Abel, Noah,
Abraham, not having received the promises fulfilled, but having
seen them afar off and embraced them, believed them. They haven't seen
what you say. And read on. And to hear those
things which you've heard and have not heard them, this gospel,
was in a measure hid even from those Old Testament saints. They didn't see the seed of woman. They believed He'd come. We know
He's come. John said, I've touched Him,
I've handled Him, I've heard Him, I've seen Him. For a long time this gospel was
hid from the Gentile world totally. and is entirely hid from the
lost. That's what we read while ago,
if our gospel be hid totally, completely hid to them that are
lost. Foolishness to them. Sheer nonsense. Stumbling back to the Jew. And
this gospel was hid from the elect until God opened their
eyes and their ears. And it's said to be hid in God,
in his thoughts. A man who does not know God does
not know God's gospel. And a man who does not know God's
gospel does not know God. It's hid in God. In God's thoughts,
in his counsels, in his purpose, in his covenant. This gospel, he said, is like
a treasure hid in a field. Where's the field? Well, that's hidden in the promises
of God. What a vast field are the promises
of God. I put enmity between thee and
the woman, between thy seed and her seed. They heard that. Adam and Eve heard that. Seed
of woman. And yet when that first son was
born to her, she said, here he is. No, that's King, killer of
his brother. He's the seed of his daddy, Adam.
That's not the seed of woman. That's the seed of man. And every
one born by natural generation is the seed of man. But one day,
the seed of woman. I was head to her. What about
the Passover lamb? What about Isaiah 7.14? Behold,
God shall give you a sign, a virgin shall be with child. Isaiah wrote it. But do you really
suppose that Isaiah had a hold of all that that meant? Call
his name Immanuel, God with us, God in human flesh, hid in the
promises. Under us a child is born, under
us a son is given. That's not to say, no, the child
is born who never lived. The son is given in the body
of that child who ever lives. Call his name Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God, the Father, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. They didn't see what you see. This treasure was hid in the
promises, hid in the types. Do you suppose Israel, when they
looked at that serpent and were healed, could visualize the Son
of God in human flesh hanging on a cross, bleeding and dying
in the sinner's place instead? I do. They didn't. The rock? Moses spoke to the
rock. I mean, he smote the rock. He
smote it twice. If he'd have known that rock
was Christ like we know it, he never would have done that twice. The gospel's hid in the tabernacle,
in the priesthood. The mercy seat. And the gospels
even hid in the gospel. Turn to John 6. Our Lord Jesus
Christ. They talk about Spurgeon being
the prince of preachers. They talk about this preacher,
that preacher, and the other preachers. No preacher ever preached
like this preacher. No man ever spake like this man.
Yet, they didn't hear him. In John chapter 6, He talked
to them about his grace and mercy, and it says in verse 41, the
Jews then murmured at him. This is the Son of God. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ preaching the gospel. And these religious
people murmured at him because he said, I am the bread. He is
the bread. which came down from heaven.
He did come down from heaven. And they said, well, this is
Jesus. This is the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know.
How is it then? He said, I came down from heaven. Who ever heard of such a thing? And he said, that's all right. Jesus answered and said, murmur
not among yourselves. No man can come to me. Believe
on me. See the Son for who He is? Except my Father which sent me,
draw Him, teach Him, reveal the truth to Him. And I raise Him
up at the last day. It's written in the Prophets,
they shall be all taught of God. The seeing eye and the hearing
ears of the Lord, taught of God. And every man therefore that
hath heard and learned of the Father, He knows who I am, and
He'll come to me. This treasure, called a mystery,
mystery of God, hid in a field, in the promises, in the types, in the scriptures,
in the tabernacle, in the priesthood, it's all clear. if you have eyes. Message is fragrance of life
unto life, if you have ears. The glory of a crucified Redeemer
is the best news your heart can hear, if you've got a heart.
That God gave you a new heart. And the Gospels even hid in the
Gospels. I'm preaching the gospel. And
yet the people right here, they do not believe it. They're hearing it right here,
but they're not hearing it here. And they see what I'm saying.
I'm saying that God came down to earth in the form of a man,
was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, born of a woman, made
under the law, And by His perfect life and obedience, He gave to
us a righteousness we didn't have and couldn't produce. And by the grace of God, He went
to that cross, and there He died as a substitute of His people,
bearing their shame and sin. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made God's righteousness in Him. He
was buried in rows again, victorious over sin, death, and hell. Finished
what God gave Him to do. I finished the work You gave
me to do. Now glorify me with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was." People hear that. They hear it.
They hear it. It's like telling a blind man
about a sunset. It's there, but he doesn't see
it. Well, look at the rest of this
line. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, gospel hid in
a field that when a man hath found it, oh, some do. He was in the world and the world
didn't know him, but somebody did. John the Baptist says he's
the Lamb of God. Peter said he's the Christ, the
Son of God. Thomas said he's my Lord and
my God. Somebody did. He came unto his
own, his own received him not, but some of them did, Saul of
Tisus did, when he found him. When he found him. Do they just happen upon
it? Nope. Do they accidentally just discover
this gospel? Nope. Is it because they have superior
intellect and mind? And they can figure out the deeper
thing? Nope. It's revealed to them. God reveals it. Listen. Turn to Matthew 16. Matthew 16. The Lord asks Peter and the apostles. Matthew 16. Verse 13. When he came to the coast of
Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men
say that I, the Son of Man, am? What's the general opinion out
there of who I am? Oh, they said some say you're
John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah,
some say you're one of the prophets. But he said to them, Whom do
you say that I am? Who am I? And Simon Peter said,
You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. And he said unto
them, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you. You didn't stumble upon that.
You didn't accidentally find that out. You didn't find that
out because you went to school. And you're smarter than somebody
else. My Father, which is in heaven, revealed that to you. So this man, in Matthew 13, verse
44, He talks like, who was it, Andrew? Let me find it and read it to
you. Over there in John, listen, Philip,
Philip found Nathanael and said, we have found him. We have found
him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did right, we
have found him. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of
Joseph, is the Messiah. It says here, when a man has
found this gospel, when God is pleased to open his eyes and
heart and ears to hear this gospel, when he finds him, When God lifts the scales and
lets him see the beauty and glory of Christ, what does he do with
this gospel? He hides it. What does that mean? He stores it in his heart. He
holds it strongly to him. He can't let it slip away. It's
what I've been looking for. This is the Lord that I've been
looking for. This is the truth that I've been
seeking. This is the gospel that I have
always wanted. And he hides it like David said,
Thou word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against
Thee, that it might never be taken away. I've hid it in my
heart, held it close to my soul. My innermost being, I found him. I have found him whom my soul
loves. I see. And then what does he do? And
then for joy. This is the way. This is the
truth. This is the life. This is the hope. This is the
gospel. This is all and in all. This
is God speaking. This is His gospel. This is what
will save my soul. So, for joy, he goes and sells
all that he has and buys the field. What does that mean, he goes
and sells all that he has? Well, it's not talking about
he goes down and quits his job. Sells his house. The church would
have to support him then, wouldn't they? Sells his house, he'd have to
move in with one of you. Goes and gets rid of everything,
quits his business and fires all his employees, and they have
to start looking for a job. No, no. Saul of Tarsus. He tells us about
it in Philippians 3. He was somebody in religion. He was a Pharisee on the board
of the Sanhedrin, wealthy, prominent, popular, friend of the high priest,
ramrod of religion, self-righteous, and he says in Philippians 3,
Though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinks he hath whereof he might trust and glory in his flesh,
I am over. I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin. Hebrew
of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal,
I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which
is of the law, I was blameless, but had to get rid of all of
it. These things that were gained
to me, important to me, I counted loss
for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things but loss. For the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but garbage, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. This man found the gospel in
the promises, in the types, in the scripture, in the word, in
Christ. And he couldn't embrace that
old religious tradition in which he walked and embrace this gospel. They were different. He couldn't
embrace his works. his good deeds and embrace this
gospel. He couldn't embrace his self-righteousness
and embrace the righteousness of Christ. He couldn't have friendship
with the world and with those who hate this gospel and hate
this Christ and despise substitution. He could not walk with them. You see, he's buying the whole
field. He's buying the scriptures, the promises, the prophecies,
the types, the church, the grace of God, the glory of God, everything
that has to do with this gospel. He couldn't have two masters,
God and Mammon. He couldn't have God's will in
his will, God's way in his way, God's thoughts in his thoughts.
He's selling out. Like Ruth said, thy God's my
God. Where you go, I go. Where you
live, I live. Your people are my people. Your
God's my God. And where you die, I die. That's
what he did. Sold out to Christ. Sold out to the gospel. There
wasn't any debate. There wasn't any argument. The
gospel. There's no back and forth situation. This gospel buys the whole field. As for me and my house, Joshua
said, we serve the Lord. But this next parable, notice
this. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls. This merchant man's a
seeker whose mind and heart is aroused to seek what? Goodly pearls, not just pearls.
He's not interested in religion. He's not just interested in good
preaching, good singing. He's interested in precious pearls. precious, goodly pearls. He's not satisfied with imitation.
He knows he's surrounded with imitation. Oh, they shine and
glisten and glimmer and glow, but it ain't real. He can see the flaws. He's looking
for the true way. He's like that eunuch that'd
been up there to that religious gathering. He was on his way
back home. Seeking. A man seeking precious
pearls. Seeking goodly pearls. I'm tired
of imitation. I'm seeking the truth. And God
sent him a preacher. He said, do you understand what
you're reading? No. Not unless somebody show me. And Philip
began at that scripture and preached unto him the pearl of great price. He said, that's it. That's it. When he found it, Cornelius seeking,
seeking. Lydia! What was she doing down
there by that river with that bunch of women in that prayer
meeting? Seeking. And God sent her a preacher. The most unappreciated gift God
has, a man to tell people the truth. But God opened her heart
and she heard him. God opened her heart. God sent
the preacher and God opened her heart. She's seeking. And when he found, listen, what
did he say? One pearl of great price. Who's
that? That's Christ. That treasure
in the field is the gospel. That pearl is Christ. He found the pearl, God's son,
heir of all things, brightness of His glory, express image of
His person, who sat down at the right hand of God, Christ, the
altogether lovely one, the pearl of great price, the only one,
the unlikely, the chief cornerstone, the bread of life, the unsearchable
riches, the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star,
the sure foundation, the faithful witness, the righteous judge,
the great physician, the captain of my salvation, the way, the
truth, and the life, the seed, the sower, and the Lord of the
harvest, the refuge, the hiding place, the pearl. It's Him. It's my Lord. And what did He do? He did the same thing the other
fellow did. He parted. with everything that
came between Him and owning that pearl. Now, I've said that so many times,
so many times. Hebrews 11, let's turn over there
just a moment, Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 talks about
Moses here. And it says, now listen, Hebrews
11.23, by faith Moses, when he was born. Got it? Hebrews 11.23, Moses, when he
was born, he had three months of his parents. They saw he was
a special child. They were not afraid of the king's
commandments. By faith Moses, when he grew up, when he came
to years, refused. He refused some things. That's
what this man did when he found the gospel. When he found the pearl, he did
something. He did something. Moses refused. Number one, he
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He refused to try to have fellowship
with darkness. He refused to stay where he was. I'm not Pharaoh's son, I'm God's
son. He refused. It's not my home,
these not my people. My people are the, well, we don't. He refused The pleasures of sin,
verse 25. Choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin. Yeah,
but Moses, you've got so much invested here. Your education,
you're in line for the throne. Your retirement. You've got so
much. He refused. He said, I'm not
her son. And I refuse to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Because that's all the long they
last. I'm interested in eternal joy. And thirdly, he refused
the treasures of Egypt. Verse 26, esteeming the reproach
of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. Egypt
had some treasures, my brethren. You talk about treasures. But
now he chose something. Moses refused. He said, I'm not
your son, and I'm not going to live this kind of life, and I
don't need the treasures of Egypt, because I choose, listen, verse
26, I choose to suffer affliction. That's what I choose, and that's
what the gospel brings. If you're looking for fun, you
don't want to look for the pearl of great price. Because in this world, you'll
have tribulation and trial. That's right. It's not popular
to believe the gospel. It's popular to be religious,
but it's not popular to follow Christ. It's not popular to glorify
God. So you're going to suffer. They
that would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. They're not going to like you,
and they're not going to like your children. They're not going to
like your pastor, and they're not going to like your church,
and they're not going to like your doctrine. So you just got to make up, is
it worth it? Is that prayer worth it? And then he chose to suffer affliction,
and he chose to be with the people of God. These are my people.
These are my people. I'm going to suffer with these
people because I want to reign with them. And then thirdly, he chose the
reproach of Christ. He counted this offense of the
cross and this persecution and reproach of Christ, he counted
that greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. God's sufferings
are greater than the world's happiness. That's what he's saying. Now let's look back at the text,
and I'll finish the message. This kingdom of heaven, the gospel's
a treasure. Verse 45, Christ is the pearl. And verse 47, and the kingdom
of heaven's like a net. What is the net? The net's the
preaching of the gospel. It's what I've been doing for
40 years. seven years now, radio and TV and here and wherever
God was pleased to let me speak and other preachers preaching
the gospel. He said, the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a net. It's cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind. God commands us to preach the
gospel. Preach the gospel to every creature. Just preach the
gospel indiscriminately. Preach the gospel. Everybody
will tune you in, or listen to you, or buy a tape, or listen.
Preach the gospel. But now, everybody who gets in
the net is not good. It's like pears
and wheat. You cast the net out there, And
it picks up some bad fish, some good fish. Picks up some dead
fish and some live fish. Picks up some fish that are good
and some that are not good. You see, even when our Lord preached,
listen, when the Master preached, He said in John 2.23, many followed
Him because of the miracles. They saw the miracles which He
did and they followed Him. And He said, He did not commit
himself to them because he knew them. They're bad fish. But they
got taken up in the thing. They got taken up in the following. People running, following Christ,
listening to him preach and teach. Some followed him, he said, for
the loaves and fishes. He said, I know why you're following
me. You ate of the loaves and were filled. Some followed him because they
were expecting him to organize the big kingdom. They said, Hosanna,
Hosanna, he that cometh in the name of the Lord, son of David.
They wanted to make him king. The same crowd was crying, crucifying
him a few days later. Some people, at the judgment,
said, well, we followed you, we cast out devils in your name,
we did wonderful works. He said, no, they weren't wonderful,
they were works of iniquity. So, we preach. We preach. Cast the net. And it gets, verse 48 says, it
gets full. Churches have a lot of people
in most of them. And when they drew it to shore,
they sat down and separated the good from the bad. So shall it
be, verse 20, 49, at the end of the world the angels will
come forth. I can't do that, see, and you can't. Well, I know
she's not saved. No, you don't. You don't know
that. Well, I don't believe he's saved.
You don't know that. Well, I believe that's a really
a saved man. You don't know that. You can't
see a heart. God can. So it's not our business
to run around here Trying to see who's saved and who's not
saved. We preach the gospel. We throw the net. And God will
take care of that. At the end of the world, He said
the angels will come and sever the wicked from among the just.
Cast them into the furnace of fire, wailing and gnashing of
teeth. That's sad. But I looked at verse 51. And
our Lord said to these, here sat these disciples, and He's
been talking about these awesome things that I've been talking
about tonight, trying to. And He said, now you understand
that. Most of you do, don't you? And they said, we do. We understand. And this last verse, 52, He said,
He said to them, therefore every scribe, every true preacher of
the gospel, every scribe, which is or who is instructed, taught
of God, in things of the kingdom of heaven, he's taught of God,
he truly loves, knows and preaches the gospel of Christ, he's taught
of God, he's instructed of God in the things of the kingdom
of heaven. Well, he's like a man that's a householder. He has
a household. He has a family under his care.
The household of faith. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what Peter was. The Lord said, you go feed my
sheep. He's a householder. And he has
these whom God has entrusted in his care. And he brings forth. out of his treasure. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels, but he brings forth. He works
at it. He works diligently and prays
and seeks the knowledge and wisdom of God, and he brings forth out
of that treasure the new and the old, the fresh and the familiar. The new is, like tonight, we
see some things we hadn't seen before. We see some things we've
seen a hundred times, but it's the new and the old. It's the
fresh and the familiar. But the familiar's never old.
It's just good as it was the first time. A little sweeter. Old wine's better. Old truth
is sweeter. But that householder, you see,
he never wearies, he never tires. He never stops. He just keeps on out of that
treasure finding something else, new and old. And those folks
that have found the treasure and found the pearl, they just rejoice, they're just
so glad, just so glad.